Tartarus's Return
by Zelena of the West
Summary: Tartarus is returning to reawaken Gaea. He will kill every demigod in his path to do so. Tartarus sends them dreams, flashbacks, and kills their closest friends to break them. Gaea will destroy the Earth and all civilization. Tartarus, well, he just wants revenge on the two mortals who escaped him, While Bruce is overcoming his own problems. After BOO and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
1. Chapter 1: The Kids

**Okay, guys. I know I have written other stories, but those will be put up for adoption so I can focus on this one. This is my favorite story that I've come up with so far, and I already have most of it planned out. Sorry if you were wanting the other stories!**

Chapter 1

 _Steve_

The Avengers were gathered together today. Not the new ones that Natasha and I had been training, but the original team, because Fury had insisted that he needed us, and the new Avengers weren't exactly a team yet. I have no idea what could be so bad that he would assemble us again, but whatever it was, Fury must be desperate. We met in an old warehouse. Nobody knew we were here, meeting with Fury.

"A new threat is coming." He paused for dramatic effect. "A new war."

These few words, of course, turned our faces quite serious. We all knew what war brought. Nothing but death, sadness, and despair. He must have seen our faces and knew that we were thinking of Ultron, and Pietro, because his voice softened a bit. Not as hard as steel anymore, more like rock hard.

"I have intel that what's coming can't be stopped by us, not by a long shot." Fury said grimly.

"Than why are we here if it's a hopeless cause?" Tony asked quietly.

"We fight because we are the last defence for the earth. Without us _nobody_ will have hope, and even if our fighting is hopeless, it's not pointless. We fight because there is nobody else to fight." I said, glaring at Tony.

"I agree," Thor said. "If we die, we die with honor."

His words didn't do anything to boast morale, but did make everyone realize we had to fight. Even if we all went down, we would go down together.

Fury cleared his throat.

"I don't know exactly what is coming, but we have a chance if we recruit these two."

He showed us a picture of two kids, around seventeen. They were bloody, bruised, and looked horrible. They were clutching each other tightly, as if without the other the world would be destroyed. They were obviously a couple, and a pretty serious one at that.

The male was pretty tall, with messy black hair and tanned skin. He looked quite muscular, even though you could tell he hadn't been eating properly in at least a week. The girl had blonde curly hair and tanned skin also. She was muscular too, and looked starved.

What was most unnerving though, were their eyes. The boy's were sea green and reminded me of the ocean, swirling like a storm. The girl's were a stormy grey and she looked deep in thought. Even if it was just a picture, her eyes seemed like she was analyzing me, to see my weaknesses.

Both of them had a certain shattered look in their eyes, a look I knew all too well. They had the eyes of a battle-ridden soldier, even though they couldn't possibly have been in battles. Even so, their eyes were worse than a soldier's, they looked as if they had seen and gone through things nobody should ever see.

It was creepy how I had accessed them so well in just a picture. Then that got me thinking. Fury wanted _kids_ to fight with us? Why did we need them? Our new team of Avengers would be a better choice! I didn't want these two to know the horrors of war. They were too young. They didn't deserve to know the consequences of war.

"You want _children_ to fight with us?" Thor boomed loudly.

"They're just kids!" Natasha argued.

"They probably don't even know how to fight!" Clint said.

"They'd just distract us." Bruce said.

"They don't deserve to be shoved into a war." I said stubbornly.

"They could mess up my tower!" Tony protested.

Everyone just stared at him.

"What? Does nobody care about my expensive tower that took forever to construct?"

Natasha proceeded to drag Tony into the other room. We could hear Tony's muffled yells and protests and did the smart thing. Ignored them. About ten minutes later Natasha calmly walked back into the room with Tony close behind, drenched in a mysterious liquid with multiple bruises.

"These two have to fight with us, or the world will be destroyed and billions of civillians killed." Fury said.

"What's so special about these two?" Clint asked.

"I have no idea, but I know for sure that without them we will definitely lose this war."

Everyone quieted down, somewhat trusting his judgement, somewhat wondering if he was mad.

"I want you to find them and recruit them to the Avengers."

Nobody said he was crazy, but nobody wanted two kids on the team.

"This is Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase, two seniors at Goode High School. This picture was taken two months ago, in Greece. They live in New York. Anything else you need to know you're going to have to find out yourself. Try and bring them in relatively unharmed."

"Yay! We're going to go kidnap some teenagers!" Tony exclaimed sarcastically.

"We're not kidnapping them, we're bringing them in." Clint said, rolling his eyes.

"That's what I said, _kidnapping_." He replied.

Clint just groaned while Tony smirked.

Well, whether we liked it or not, Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase were joining the Avengers, for better or worse.

 _Percy_

I was walking home from school with Annabeth. She and I had spent a lot of time together since the war. Leo, Jason, Piper, Hazel, and Frank, all dead because of me. Because I wasn't strong enough to protect them.

Sometimes I feel like Annabeth is the only thing keeping me on this Earth. She is my anchor. Without her I would be dead, or quite possibly insane. We both know that Tartarus is planning something. He keeps sending us visions and he killed the Seven.

Tartarus left us alive so we could see how utterly useless we were and know that we could do nothing to stop him. Too late, I realize my mistake. I dwelled on the past too much, and now I have to relive it.

I feel Annabeth grasping my hand, and hear her saying something, but it feels worlds away. I soon find myself slipping into the darkness.

 _It was a few months after we won the giant war. Leo had surprised us all by coming back on Festus with Calypso hanging on. Everyone was angry with him for not telling us sooner, but he said he had to go get Calypso and took her to see the world._

 _We didn't blame him, and everyone had a big celebration. Leo had told us that Festus had injected the Physician's Cure into him, and he had to follow through on his promise to Calypso. Piper was going on about how cute that was, her Aphrodite side coming through._

 _It was bit awkward between Calypso and I, seeing as I practically abandoned her and ddn't make sure the gods followed through on their promise, but she was happy for Annabeth and I. She said she had Leo now, as annoying as he was._

 _That night, right after everyone except the Seven went back to the cabins, Tartarus came. The ground started shaking, and he rose out of the earth. His purple skin glistening, his black talons, his Stygian Iron boots as big as coffins, his breastplate with the faces of monsters pressing against it, as if trying to escape._

 _His face of course, was just how I remembered it. Absolutely terrifying. The swirling whirlpool, the inward spiral of darkness makes me want to hide away. I uncapped Riptide and held onto it tightly, not wanting a repeat of what happened in Tartarus._

I can sense your fear little demigods. Usually puny demigods such as you are never worth my personal attention. _Tartarus said, his voice sounded like a recording played backwards._

I can always make an exception though, especially for you two, who escaped me with the help of my disgraced son and that accursed titan.

 _He indicated Annabeth and I._

 _I looked around and saw my friends stunned, they hadn't even drawn their weapons yet, and even I knew it was pointless. Annabeth seemed deep in thought, trying to think of an escape._

You cannot escape me! I will have my revenge and reawaken my beloved Gaea!

 _So he was trying to reawaken her. Tartarus alone was unimaginable to defeat, but Gaea at his side? Five times worse._

For every demigod soul I add to my armor, a piece of her consciousness is summoned to me. She will soon wake and we shall have our revenge! I will start by killing you, to send a message to all demigods that I can kill you all with a single thought.

 _Before I could do anything, Leo, Jason, Piper, Hazel, and Frank were sucked into his horrible maw. Thousands of thoughts were running through my mind, none of them good. This would be hopeless. He's going to kill Annabeth too! Why am I so useless? I can't protect anyone, especially my friends._

 _Annabeth put her hand in mine, her drakon bone sword drawn. Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought and her face jolted me back to reality._

You can't do anything to stop me! The reason you're still alive? I want you to know how utterly useless you two are. I want you to see the world burning and know you can't do anything to stop me. You too will be the last I sacrifice to Gaea. To prove you did absolutely nothing to stop me.

 _Tartarus disappeared into the ground, leaving me with Annabeth. I knew that she blamed herself for their deaths, but I_ know _I could've done something. I could have saved them. Now, because of my inability to protect them, they're gone. Forever._


	2. Chapter 2: The Fight

**If you want to adopt any of my stories just PM me.**

Chapter 2

 _Natasha_

We hid in the shadows in an alley the two kids had to pass on their way home from school. Goode High School just got out. They should be approaching any minute now. I see them coming, now. The familiar faces show, even though they're not nearly in as bad condition as they were in the picture.

They walk down the street, holding hands. The two kids walk in silence. Not the awkward silence when you have nothing to say, but more like a tense silence like they expect something to jump out and attack them. That's ironic, because we're going to jump out, and as Tony put it, kidnap them.

Just as I am about to signal the team to come out of their hiding places, the boy, Perseus, suddenly collapses. I have no idea what's caused this, but he falls to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

Annabeth looks at him worriedly, but doesn't do anything. Perseus just lays on the ground, twitching from time to time, and muttering names. I tell the team to wait, we need to see what happens.

About fifteen minutes later, he groggily opens his eyes which are full of panic. His gaze rests on Annabeth and he visably calms down.

"They're getting worse." She says to him. "Are you okay?"

So this happens a lot, apparently. Perseus nods, then she punches him.

"Liar. I know you had a flashback of... that day." She says.

They probably went through something traumatic together. That's why they're so close.

"Wait. I sense someone." He tells her.

I tense. There's no way he could sense us. I strategicly picked hiding spots so from no angle would he be able to see us, much less hear us.

"Monsters?" She asks.

Monsters? Is that code for something?

"No, something else."

Annabeth relaxes a little.

"So mortals." She states.

Mortals? Aren't they human? Asgardians? I quickly ask Thor and he says no.

"Not quite. Somewhere inbetween, and no, not halfbloods."

Halfbloods? What are they half of?

I take this as our cue to come out of our hiding spots. The two get into fighting stances as soon as they see us. I guess we do look a little strange. We decided to go in full gear to make a good impression. We probably look like Comic-Con. Well, the boys at least.

"Who are you?" Perseus shouts.

"We need to bring you in." Clint said.

"We want you two to join the Avengers." I added.

"The Avengers?" They asked at the same time.

How had they never heard of us? We were all over the news constantly.

"Don't you watch TV? Don't tell me you've never heard of Tony Stark!" Tony exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, didn't you build Stark Tower? I absolutely love the design. How'd you get the supports..." Annabeth kept blabbering on about architecture.

"Wait, so you know me for Stark Tower, but you've never heard of Iron Man?"

"Nope."

"Do you live in a cave?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Nope."

"Okay, let's just bring you guys in." I said before things got out of hand. When I say _things_ I mean Tony.

"Why do you need us?" Perseus asked, eyes narrowed.

"We want you to join the Avengers, Perseus Jackson." Clint said.

As he said this, Perseus's eyes narrowed even more, and he whispered something to Annabeth

"We're not coming. " He growled out.

"Just come with us before things get ugly." Tony said.

"I'll repeat it for you. We're. Not. Coming." He said, his voice dripping with venom.

"I guess we'll have to use force." Clint sighs.

I just want to knock them out, not really hurt them. That was the original plan if they resisted. Clint fired a couple tranquilizer arrows quicker than I could blink, and just when I think they're out, they both expertly dodge them. He keeps firing, but it's clear they won't be taken out by an arrow.

"This guy's almost as good as Thalia!" Perseus exclaims.

I wonder who Thalia is. I guess she uses a bow too.

Now it's time for me to come in. I throw a few punches at Annabeth, not really trying too hard because she's young, and I don't want to hurt her. She blocks every single one of my punches, and when I try to sweep her legs out from under her, but she moves away and grabs my arm when I'm off balance. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor groaning. I let a _kid_ judo flip me!

Next, Steve comes in, shield in hand. He knocks into Perseus and tries to slam his shield down to knock him out. Perseus quickly dodges and pulls something out of his pocket. He pulls out... a pen? It must be more than it seems, bacause he holds onto it like it's his lifeline, and I'm pretty sure he's not crazy.

I finally regain my senses and come back into the fight, making sure Annabeth doesn't go and help Perseus. Again, she dodges everything I throw at her, and seems to know what I'm going to do before I do it. She knocks me to the ground, and all it all fades to black as I see her thrust one of Clint's tranquilizer arrows into my arm.

 _Clint_

I just watched Natasha get taken out by the girl, which is no easy feat, even if she was going easy on her. The girl, Annabeth, I think, runs over to help Perseus. Steve and he were almost evenly matched, which is ridiculous, because Steve has the Super Soldier serum in him. If Annabeth helped Perseus, Steve would most definitely be taken out.

Steve threw his shield at her, and she _caught it_. She then ran over and slammed it hard on his head. Steve crumpled. I shot blunt arrows at them rapidly, but still, they dodged all of them. I ran up and punched Perseus squarely in the jaw, but he just winces once and acts like it's nothing. He kicks me back into the wall.

I get back up, but he wasn't standing where I thought he was and instead, Annabeth is standing in front of me. I try to throw a few punches at her, but I get knocked down by Perseus from the side.

"Didn't you see that coming?" He asks, and I wince at the simiarity to Pietro's last words.

Suddenly, Iron Man comes in and fires his repulsers at them. They dodge, but just barely. The Hulk comes running into battle too, followed by Thor.

"Now would be a good time to leave." Annabeth said.

Perseus nods in agreement.

"So, you want to do it my way, or your way?" He asks.

"Your way, obviously, Seaweed Brain." She said.

Seaweed Brain is a strange nickname. I wonder why she calls him that. I soon realize why. They sprint to a park, and we follow. We get there in time to see them jump into a river and I realize they're trying to swim away.

We wait for them to resurface, but they never do. Nobody can hold their breath for that long. they probably have some device to help them breathe.

"We should let them go this time. Let's wait a week and surprise them. No talking." I said.


	3. Chapter 3: We Join Them

Chapter 3

 _Natasha_

It was a week after we fought the two kids. I am so ashamed of myself for being taken out by a kid. I underestimated her and she easily defeated me. Well, here we go again, but this time we're surprising them.

We hid right by Perseus's apartment and waited patiently. Sure enough, they passed by, hand in hand. I nodded quickly to Clint, and before they could react, they had tranquilizer arrows in their sides.

We picked them up and took them back to Stark Tower. It would be a while before they woke up, according to Clint, so we set them on the couch, so they trusted us just a little. They're starting to wake up now. Hopefully we can get them to trust us, because apparently the war can't be won without them.

 _Annabeth_

I woke up on a giant couch with Percy by my side. As he started to wake up, I looked around and saw six expectant faces looked down at me. It was the people who attacked us.

"Hey, sorry for kidnapping you and all, but do you want to join the Avengers?" The only one I knew the name of, Tony Stark said.

"Uh... can I talk with my boyfriend?" I asked.

They nodded and left, supposedly leaving us alone, but I didn't want to take any chances. I decided to speak in Ancient Greek.

 _Percy, wake up._ I said.

"Wha...?" He said.

 _Speak in Greek. They might be watching us._

 _Who?_ He asked.

 _The Avengers. They kidnapped us. They want us to join them._

 _Should we?_

 _I think so. We should at least keep an eye on them. With all their technology they could find out about demigods._ I said.

 _Okay, let's join them._

"We've made our descision, and by the way we know you're watching us." I said. It was just a guess, but it made us seem more observant.

They came out and looked at us strangely.

"So are you joining, or not?" The one with the bow asked.

"Yes, but tell us your names first." Percy said.

"Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow." The one with the red hair said.

"Steve Rogers, or Captain America." The guy in the stars and stripes with the shield said.

"Bruce Banner, or um... the Hulk." The guy with the glasses said. I guessed he was the big green monster.

"Clint Barton, Hawkeye." The man with the bow said.

"Tony Stark, billionaire-" He got cut off by Natasha.

"Just Iron Man." She said.

"Thor Odinson, of Asgard." The guy with the hammer said.

Wait a minute. Asgard? That's from Norse mythology! Oh my gods I didn't realize that there were other pantheons than Greek and Roman! At least Greek and Roman make sense because they're just different aspects, but Norse? Does that mean he's a god? I don't think so. He doesn't really give off the aura of a god. His is strange. Powerful, yes, but more... alien.

"So, Perseus-" Steve started to say.

"It's Percy." Percy told him.

"Okay, Percy. Got any special powers?" He asked.

I glared at him, not my hardest, but enough to make him shrink back.

"Well, um, I can control water and breate underwater." Percy said.

He was smart, not telling them everything he can do.

"What about you, Annabeth?" Clint asked.

I glared at him very hard. He flinched.

"I don't have any _noticeable_ powers, but that doesn't make me any less dangerous." I said glaring at every single one of them. "And," I added. "I can still kick your butts."

I thought I saw Natasha looking at me with approval, but I may have just imagined that.

"Well, someone told us that we need you two to defeat this new threat that's coming." Natasha said.

"What exactly is coming?" I asked.

"We don't know."

I know what's coming. Tartarus. Why would we need mortals for help, though? Even though I don't want to get the camps involved because Tartarus would just kill them, mortals couldn't help, could they?

 _Steve_

When Annabeth woke up, Tony said, "Hey, sorry for kidnapping you and all, but do you want to join the Avengers?"

She looked a little dazed.

"Uh, can I talk with my boyfriend?" She asked.

We nodded. We wanted them to trust us. We left the room, but monitored them with hidden cameras. She started to talk in another language. I looked at Natasha, because she knew many foreign languages, but she shook her head no, she didn't recognize that language.

"Wha...?" Perseus said as he woke up.

They continued to speak in that same language and had a brief conversation.

"We've made our descision, and by the way we know you're watching us." Annabeth said confidently. She's probably just bluffing about knowing we're watching them, though.

We walked into the room to find them both in the same place we left them. We all were staring at them a little, surprised they could fluently speak a language Natasha didn't know.

"So are you joining, or not?" Clint asked.

"Yes, but tell us your names first." Perseus said. I was still surprised they didn't know about us.

We introduced ourselves, and when Thor told her he was from Asgard, Annabeth seemed deep in thought, more so than Perseus.

"So, Perseus-" I started to say.

"It's Percy." He told me.

"Okay, Percy. Got any special powers?" I asked.

I noticed Annabeth glaring at me, and she was pretty scary! I shrunk back from the intensity of her glare.

"Well, um, I can control water and breate underwater." Percy said, though I got the feeling he wasn't telling us everything he could do.

"What about you, Annabeth?" Clint asked.

She glared at him, even more than she glared at me. Even though the glare wasn't directed at me, I still felt like stepping back. Clint even flinched at the intense glare coming from a teenager.

"I don't have any _noticeable_ powers, but that doesn't make me any less dangerous." She said, glaring at every single one of us. "And," She added. "I can still kick your butts."

What did she mean by _noticeable_? Does that mean she really does have powers, just not as flashy? Natasha was looking her way approvingly, I could tell. She was probably happy to have another strong female on the team.

"Well, someone told us that we need you two to defeat this new threat that's coming." Natasha said.

"What exactly is coming?" Annabeth asked, but she looked like she already knew the answer and didn't like it one bit.

"We don't know." Natasha admitted.

Annabeth and Percy both looked deep in thought, and we let them think for a while.


	4. Chapter 4: Nightmares

Chapter 4

They noticed our tiredness and the fact that we were nearly asleep on our feet, and sent Annabeth and I to bed. Tony showed us where we could stay, and I knew that both of us were dreading the torture that awaited us. We went to our separate rooms, and luckily Annabeth's was just down the hall from mine, in case she needed me.

I didn't want to go to sleep, but the day's events had caught up with me and I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

 _I was standing in a pool that was a strange red color. Then I realized, it was blood. I was swimming in blood! I couldn't breathe in blood, so I held my breath as long as I could. My lungs were bursting open, and it felt like lava was pouring into them. I was drowning in blood._

Drown in the blood of all you killed! _A voice cried._

 _I was losing consciousness. I knew that soon I would die. Drown in the blood of my friends who I couldn't save. Before I did, I was soon standing in Tartarus, in a big cavern. The lifeless bodies of everyone I had seen die piled around me. they whispered to me._

You could've saved us! _They wailed._

You're useless, you can't even protect your girlfriend!

You didn't save us, so we will kill your girlfriend, just another person you failed to protect!

 _I watched helplessly as they came to life, and grabbed Annabeth from somewhere else, their dead eyes staring into mine. They tore her limb from limb, while I screamed at them to stop. She died too, and became one of the corpses who I didn't save, whispering to me how useless I was. It was bad enough from everyone else, but from Annabeth it felt like they were repeatedly tearing my heart out._

 _Tartarus appeared, in all his hideousness, and the corpses disappeared, their voices still whispering in my mind._

How does it feel like, to know I'll kill everyone you love, and know you can't stop me? _Tartarus asked mockingly._

 _He kicked me in the ribs and I heard an ominous crunch._

I will personally kill your girlfriend right before your eyes. _He whispered._

 _He stepped on my ankle, and I let out a cry of pain as I heard a crack. I tried to move it, but it felt as if it was on fire. I instantly knew it was broken. Tartarus continued to torture me, and to mock me, and I couldn't do anything about it._

 _Bruce_

I was sitting on my bed, deep in thought. I didn't know why I came back to the Avengers. I'm a danger to everyone. I shouldn't have come back. I can't afford to become too... emotionally attached to someone. The strong emotions that come with love would be too unstable for me. I'll just have to accept that I can never be in a relationship.

I've been distancing myself from Nat- Natasha, I mean. I can't get involved with her. I'll just end up hurting her, emotionally or otherwise. I think I came back because the world needed me. I was the only one with the information to save it, but I shouldn't have come. I will hurt someone. It's only a matter of time before I lose control.

After this battle, I'm leaving for good. I know the team won't let me go, so I'll have to sneak away. I will never come back, even if the world needs me again. They'll have to find someone else to play hero, because I never really was a hero. I was just pretending to be one, and kidding myself into thinking that the other guy could actually be useful.

I was interupted from my thoughts by a small, whimpering sound. It was quiet, almost inaudiable, but it was filled with so much pain, so much anguish, that I knew something was wrong. I was probably the only one who heard it, since everyone else would probably be asleep. You could only hear the whimpering if you were awake, and it was in the room down the hall, which it was.

I cautiously opened the door to my room, checking that there was nothing outside it, and proceeded to the room down the hall. Percy's room. The whimpering was definitely coming from his room. Why would he be whimpering? Was something was wrong? I so wanted to open that door and see what was happening, but I respected his privacy and knew that I couldn't just barge into his room.

"Percy," I asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

He didn't answer. I was about to burst in, because he might be in trouble, but the whimpering suddenly stopped. In it's place I heard harsh gasping, like he couldn't breathe. I decided to bust the door open right then, but asked if he was okay, a little louder this time.

"Percy!" I yelled just loud enough so he should hear me, but not loud enough to wake anyone else up.

Luckily, I heard groaning, and soon a voice.

"What? Who is it?" He asked disorientedly. His voice was very hoarse and weak.

"It's Bruce. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm alright." He stammered.

"Oh, okay." I said.

I had no intention of leaving anytime soon. Instead, I leaned against the doorway, thinking. I knew that something was wrong, and that Percy was not "alright" like he said. I didn't want to press anything though, since I had just met the guy.

I just sat there. Something told me that even though we had barely acknowledged each other, he would appreciate my being there. So I just stayed there the rest of the night, trying to be a comforting presence, because somehow, I knew he knew I was here, and that it let him know someone was there for him. 

At some point I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes sunlight streamed into the hallway. I knew the others must be waking up soon, so I hurried back to my room to get dressed for breakfast.

When I came down to breakfast the rest of the team was there except for Percy and Annabeth. They were teenagers, so I didn't expect them to be awake at seven in the morning. To my surprise, they stumbled down to the table right as I was buttering my toast.

To say they looked awful would be an understatement. They appeared to be supporting each other, holding each other up. Both of them walked with a limp, but were trying to hide it. They were covered with scratches and bruises, and numerous odd scars. Burn marks, cruel knife cuts, and sickening blood stains that they attempted to cover up.

Percy's sea green eyes were not calm like they were yesterday, but fierce and raging. They held a sort of brokenness that I couldn't quite place. Annabeth's caculating stormy grey eyes were now a dull silver, and kept darting around the room, as if expecting something to leap out and attack her. She also had that same broken look in her eyes, but slightly less pronounced.

"Why do you guys look so... hideous?" Tony asked.

I sighed. Why was Tony so overly arrogant? They both glared at him, and the two glares combined were even scarier than the ones before, and that was saying something. This was obviously a very sore and emotional subject for them, why was Tony such a, such a-

"What Mr. Sympathetic over here means to ask is... are you guys okay?" Natasha asked with a touch of empathy in her voice.

"We're fine." Percy said, gritting his teeth.


	5. Chapter 5: More Nightmares

Chapter 5

 _Percy_

After we ate breakfast, I noticed Natasha staring at us. It didn't take Einstein to figure out she was suspicious of Annabeth and I. Even though she was pretty good at masking her emotions. I could tell she had built walls around herself, but I had no idea why.

"Come over here and sit down." She said.

Natasha reminded me of Annabeth, which meant she was definitely not someone I should cross. So, being smart for once, I obeyed and sat down on the couch with her. The other Avengers were out in another room. Annabeth followed, and we sat in awkward silence before Natasha finally spoke.

"Cut the act. You guys are terrible at hiding a limp. Percy, you wince when you shift your torso, so I'm guessing at least bruised, maybe broken, ribs."

Wow. She really was like Annabeth.

"You both have burns, bruises, and knife marks, and your attempts to hide the blood stains are really rather pathetic. Care to explain?" Natasha asked, eying us carefully.

Annabeth for once, seemed speechless. Her mind was probably struggling to finda good excuse. I knew I had to say something, but I needed to come up with a plausible story.

"Uh..." I started.

"Go ahead, I want to hear this."

"We, um, have bad nightmares and hurt ourselves in our sleep." I said, but it sounded more like a question.

I could see Annabeth mentally face palm. She was right, Natasha was too smart for any lie we could think of. She would see right through anything.

"Uh huh, and you squirmed around enough to break your ribs and have _knife_ marks?"

"Y-yep." I stuttered, deciding to stick to the story.

"And you're telling me," Natasha said sarcastically. "You managed to burn yourself while you were asleep. Totally."

"But-" I started.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me just say it." She said.

"We don't want to tell you."

Natasha sighed.

"Okay, I won't force you to tell me. Just remember, we're a team and you need to trust us."

"Even if _you_ don't trust _us_?" Annabeth asked.

"Touché."

We sat in silence before Tony came bursting in.

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked cautiously.

"Nothing." Natasha said sweetly, just enough to make Tony suspicious.

Apparently this didn't worry him too much, because he shrugged it off and walked away.

"I'll drop it for now, but eventually you're going to have to tell us." She warned.

With that last piece of advice, Natasha got up from the couch and left, leaving Annabeth and I alone in the large living space.

"She's right, you know." Annabeth said. "They'll find out soon enough."

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Just keep it hidden for as long as we can." She said confidently.

"And if they find out?"

Annabeth bit her lip nervously. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I'll be thinking about that."

"Okay, but one thing we definitely need is nectar and ambrosia. If we come down with these injuries every single day, they're bound to find it out soon." I said.

"Good idea. Let's IM Nico so he can shadow travel in here undetected." Annabeth said.

With that, we headed to my room to create a rainbow. We went into the bathroom for privacy, and a water faucet.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." Annabeth said as she threw the coin into the mist, which disappeared. "Show me Nico di Angelo."

Nico was in the Hades cabin, absentmindedly twisting his skull ring. He didn't seem to notice the Iris Message.

"Nico!" I called out.

He looked up, started.

"Hey, Percy. Annabeth."

He took a good look at us.

"Did it happen again?" Nico asked.

We nodded.

"We need nectar and ambrosia because we're kind of with some people called the Avengers." I said.

Nico's eyes widened a little when he heard about the Avengers.

"So you want me to bring you guys some nectar and ambrosia?" He asked.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "But you need to shadow travel straight to this room so you're undetected."

"I'll be there in a minute." Nico said.

"Thanks, Neeks." I said cheekily.

"Don't call me-" He started to say angrily, but I swiped my hand through the mist, disconnecting the message.

A little while later, Nico appeared in the shadows handing us a couple baggies of ambrosia and two canteens of nectar.

"Thanks, Nico." Annabeth said.

"No problem," Nico replied sarcastically. "I just love being a delivery boy."

"It's your fault for learning shadow traveling." I pointed out.

We laughed.

"I'd better get going." Nico said.

He disappeared back into the shadows.

Annabeth and I both ate some ambrosia. The cuts and burns faded, but Annabeth's leg, my ankle, and my broken ribs were another story. I knew that they would take time to heal.

 _Annabeth_

By the time Percy and I went to bed, almost all of our injuries had healed. I slowly crawled into my bed, dreading what I knew would come next. Despite how hard I tried to stay awake, I fell asleep, falling into an awful nightmare.

 _I was gripping onto a ledge over Tartarus. Percy was standing near the edge looking down at me._

 _"Percy," I called out in desperation as my fingers began to slip. "Help me, please!"_

 _Percy walked up to the ledge and twirled his sword thoughtfully._

 _"Please." I begged._

 _"Annabeth, do you really think I would fall into Tartarus for you? I never really even loved you!" He told me._

 _His words hurt more than anything. I couldn't believe Percy would abandon me. Maybe it was for the best. With me, he would only get hurt._

 _"Have fun in Tartarus." He said, and walked away right as I lost my grip._

 _As I fell into the darkness I remembered Percy's words._

 _"He never even loved me." I said quietly to myself._

 _I found myself on the nightmarish landscape of Tartarus. Suddenly, I saw him. Percy stood a few yards away from me, looking like he had when the Death Mist was on him._

 _"Annabeth!" He called out. "Help me. I'm sorry!"_

 _I ran over to him, but when I reached him he disappeared._

 _"Please! Save me!" Percy yelled._

 _He kept appearing in multiple spots, but as soon as I touched him he materialized somewhere else. I knew it was hopeless, but I couldn't bring myself to give up, to fail Percy._

 _"Annabeth!" He called out._

 _Suddenly Tartarus himself appeared behind him. I tried to warn him, but my voice wouldn't work. Tartarus grabbed Percy just fine, and held him in the air, choking him. After Tartarus dropped Percy's lifeless body on the ground, he turned to me._

You really should have saved him. _Tartarus said._

 _Then, the giant god disappeared leaving me alone. I looked at Percy's body, and it took me a moment for my brain to process what had just happened. Percy. Is. Dead. Tartarus had killed him. I felt rage unimaginable, but even more than that, I felt broken. Percy was my other half. He completed me. Without him, I was just a tiny jigsaw piece looking for a puzzle._

 _I ran over to Percy's body. It was still warm._

 _"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "This is all my fault. I should have saved you forgive me."_

 _Percy whispered one word that broke my already shattered heart into even smaller pieces._

 _"Never."_

 _His body turned cold._


	6. Chapter 6: Fatal Flaws

Chapter 6

 _Bruce_

Tonight, I was pondering the two teenagers' appearances today. They not only looked physically horrible, but mentally, too. I knew it had something to do with Percy whimpering last night, but I have no idea how to connect them because he had been asleep. Nobody could have snuck in without us knowing it and hurt him, either.

Again, I was interupted from my musings, but this time it was from full on sobbing. It was filled with a devastated brokeness that told me something terrible had happened. It definitely came from down the hall, so I immediately thought of Percy. I ran to his room, but the sobbing was not coming from his room.

That only left one other option. The only other one close enough for me to hear was Annabeth's room.

"Annabeth, are you okay?" I asked.

Silence.

"I'm fine. Just a nightmare." She finally said, but I had a feeling that there was something more than just a regular old nightmare.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

I knew that having someone else close to comfort you was very helpful. That was ironic, because I always distanced myself from people when I was upset. I had a reason though. I might hurt someone if I'm near them.

"I guess." She replied.

I slowly opened the door to find Annabeth spread across her bed looking up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, which meant she had been crying an awful lot. Noticing me staring at her, she shakily said,

"I know, I'm a mess."

"That's not what-" I started.

"Sorry for waking you up." Annabeth said.

"I was already awake. I couldn't sleep." I replied.

"Oh," Was all she said.

"So, your nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Not really." Annabeth told me.

"Talking about it might help you deal with it better." I insisted.

I am such a hypocrite. Here I am, giving advice to people, that applies to myself, yet I ignore it. I really hate myself sometimes.

"Fine." Annabeth sighed.

I sat on the bed next to her.

"Well, in my dream P-percy abandoned me. He said he never loved me." Tears started to gather in her eyes.

"He left me to die and then, and then he was in trouble. I tried so hard to save him but-" She was shaking by now.

"But I couldn't. He died and he s-said, he said he would n-never forgive me." Annabeth whispered.

Now she was sobbing into my shoulder.

"Percy would never really abandon you." I said. "He loves you more than anything."

"I guess, but it felt so real." She said, almost inaudiable.

"It's not. It's just a bad dream." I told her.

She just sighed.

"Is Percy all right?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes," I said. "And he's probably wondering if you're okay."

"Yeah," She agreed. "His Fatal Flaw."

I had no idea what "Fatal Flaw" meant, but it sounded bad.

"What's a Fatal Flaw?" I asked, not expecting to be answered.

"A Fatal Flaw is a trait that could cause your downfall. Everybody has one. And, well, it's not called a "Fatal Flaw" for nothing." Annabeth said sadly, like she knew people personally who had died because of their Fatal Flaw.

"What's Percy's?" I asked cautiously, not sure if it was a personal question.

"Well, usually I wouldn't tell you because people can manipulate you based on your Flaw, but since everybody already knows Percy's, I'll tell you. Percy's Fatal Flaw is personal loyalty, he's very loyal to his friends and family." She said.

"That doesn't seem too bad." I said.

"It doesn't," Annabeth agreed. "But basically to save a friend, Percy would sacrifice the world."

Percy seemed so brave, and now I knew he was loyal, too.

"What about yours?" I asked.

"My Fatal Flaw? Hubris, or deadly pride. I sometimes think I could do anything better than anyone. Sometimes I feel like if I made the world it would be perfect." She replied.

That _did_ sound dangerous.

"What do you think my Fatal Flaw is?" I questioned curiously.

"Well, I haven't known you for very long, but I would guess guilt, or distancing yourself from others." Annabeth said.

"You're good at reading people." I told her.

"Thanks." She replied. "You know, I have a friend like you. He was afraid of himself and ran away from others. He blamed Percy for his sister's death, and distanced himself from everyone. Once he stepped out of the shadows, though, he became a hero."

"Well," I said, chuckling. "I could never be a hero. I'm just a monster who can kill everyone around me. After this war, I'm leaving. For good."

Annabeth just shook her head, muttering to herself, so I decided we both needed some more sleep. I headed back to my room and peacefully fell asleep, with no more interuptions.

Every night this week, I would hear Percy or Annabeth having trouble with what I assumed was a nightmare. If I heard Percy, I would go to his door and ask,

"Are you okay?" Which really meant, _I'm here for you._

Percy would say,

"I'm alright." Which really meant, _Thanks for being here._

If Annabeth had a nightmare, I'd ask to come in and let her cry on my shoulder and comfort her. We'd talk all night, and even though I was getting almost no sleep, I found myself not getting tired at all. I found myself refreshed after my chats with Annabeth. When I sat against Percy's door, hearing his anguished cries, I would feel like I was actually in there with him, comforting him, too.

 _Percy_

I could deal with the pain. I could deal with the fear. Heck, I could even deal with Tartarus taunting me, but seeing Annabeth die before me every single time I closed my eyes was unbearable.

I felt that one day I was going to break. Cracks appeared every night, but luckily Annabeth was there for me to pick up the pieces. Bruce was helpful too. He was there for me when Annabeth wasn't able to be. I had a feeling Bruce knew what it was like, to slowly lose your minid piece by piece.

One night, I couldn't sleep at all. I went to Annabeth's room, knowing she could comfort me too. Annabeth was sitting on her bed. Apparently she couldn't sleep either.

"Annabeth, I don't know how long I can take this torture." I said.

"I know, Percy, I know." Annabeth said sadly.

"Sometimes I feel like everyday I'm losing a shard of my sanity, and one day I won't have any sanity to lose."

"I'll be here for you. No matter what, we'll always be together." Annabeth promised.

"Together." I agreed.

That afternoon, I spotted a group of _empousai_ just outside the tower. I told Annabeth, and we decided to confront them before the Avengers discovered them. So we told the Avengers that we were taking a walk together.

We walked out into the street in front of the tower. Annabeth and I led them into an alley so we couldn't be seen from a window.

"Let's get this over with." I said.

"Perseus Jackson. We will-" The lead _empousa_ said.

"Yeah, yeah. I got the whole, 'We want to kill you!' part." I said sarcastically.

With that, the _empousa_ lunged. Fast as lightning, I took out Riptide, uncapped it, and sliced her in half. She turned into monster dust. Annabeth quickly brought out her drakon bone sword and stabbed one through the stomach. One tried to pounce on her from behind, but I stabbed her before she landed.

Once we took out all of them, a lithe figure landed in front of us.

"So," She said. "Been keeping some secrets, have we?"


	7. Chapter 7: Secrets and Curses Discovered

Chapter 7

 _Annabeth_

When Natasha landed in front of us, I knew we were in trouble.

"Explain. Now." She demanded.

"This isn't fair!" Percy exclaimed. "It's only been a week and they've already found out!"

"Deal with it. They were bound to find out anyway." I told him.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed. "It's about as fair as me waking up the entire earth just because I got a _little_ nosebleed!"

Natasha looked on confusedly.

"Just explain what those... things were." She said.

"We should go back to the tower and grab the team. They'll want to hear this." I said.

Ten minutes later, the Avengers were all gathered around the table.

"Why are we here?" Tony asked.

"These two have something to tell us." Natasha said, indicating Percy and I.

"What?" Clint questioned.

"You guys heard of the Greek gods?" Percy asked.

Nods from around the room.

"They're real."

Nobody gasped or anything, but they did look unbelieving, especially Steve.

"And they still have kids with mortals, called demigods, or half-bloods." I said.

"So you two are..." Clint said.

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon." Percy confirmed.

"So that's how you have water powers!" Tony exclaimed.

"What about you, Annabeth?" Steve asked, still skeptical.

"Athena, goddess of wisdom." I said.

Natasha and Clint looked suspicious, Bruce looked thoughtful, Steve still seemed doubtful, Tony looked scarily excited, and Thor appeared mildly interested.

"And Natasha, those things you saw were monsters. _Empousai_ to be exact. Monsters hunt us down and try to eat us so we have to learn to survive at a camp." I told her.

"What are _empousai_?" She asked.

"Think of a vampire with a bronze leg and a donkey leg, and can charm men into letting down their guard."

"Anything else?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah. We've been through two wars." I said.

Cue the jaws dropping and gaping mouths.

"Against who?" Tony asked curiously.

"Well, the first one was against my evil grandfather, Kronos the titan of time, and the second was against bloodthirsty Mother Earth herself, who is my great-grandmother." Percy said.

"Got any other evil family members?" Clint asked sarcastically.

"Too many to count." Percy said.

"I'm still kind of not believing you." Steve said.

Percy then dumped water on him from across the room.

"Now do you believe us?"

"I think so, yes."

 _Percy_

That night, I had a horrible sense of dread as I crawled into my bed. I wasn't plunged into my usual nightmare, but in an inky blackness. It was almost as dark as when we ran into Nyx, which is really saying something. I could hear Tartarus's sinister voice from... somewhere.

 _I hope you enjoy my little gift. A pity I can't kill you yet, but the Fates will not allow it. Don't worry. I didn't forget your little girlfriend._

"Percy!" I heard Bruce shout, waking me up.

I began breathing heavily as I felt pain that I had only felt one other time. Gorgon's blood. If I was going through this curse, what about Annabeth?

"Bruce." I croaked out. "Please... Annabeth. Check on h-her."

"Are you sure? Are you okay?" He asked.

My throat was burning, actually my everything was burning, and I was almost unable to choke out one word.

"Please."

"O-okay." Bruce said.

 _Bruce_

Something was really wrong. I didn't want to leave Percy alone. I had the feeling he was seriously injured-or worse. I did what he asked, though. If Annabeth was as bad as he was, she would need some help.

I saw Annabeth stumbling around blindly and calling out for Percy.

"Percy!" She cried. "Why did you abandon me?"

"Annabeth!" I yelled.

"Percy!" She said, ignoring me.

I looked at her, and saw that her eyes were milky white. She ran into a wall, but kept on going. She was blind, and for some reason thought Percy had abandoned her. I had no idea what to do. This was really odd. I needed to wake up the others. They might know what to do.

It took a while, but once I informed everyone of the urgency of the situation, they got up immediately. We carried Percy to the living room and put him on the couch, and even though he was semi-concious, he was limp and unresponsive. Once in a while he would moan in pain.

Annabeth refused to go anywhere, and still believed Percy had left her. We finally coaxed her into the living room and told her to get some rest. We started examining them, to see what was wrong.

While we did this, the shadows solidified and out popped a teenage boy. He looked to be about fourteen, and his hair was black. He was very pale, but still seemed to have an olive complexion. His eyes were pitch black. He pointed his black sword at us threateningly.

Those were three signs of being a demigod. He came out of the shadows, he had weirdly colored eyes, and he had a sword. Definite demigod.

"What did you do to them?" He growled at us venomously.

"Are you a demigod?" Tony asked.

"They told you?" He asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah." Tony replied.

"They must trust them." He muttered to himself. "Not that I would."

"Kid, we're right here, you know." Clint said.

The boy's eyes flashed with anger, and before Clint could defend himself, he had him pinned to the wall with his sword at Clint's throat.

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Them?" He hissed out quietly, but murderously.

"We found them like this. We're trying to help them." Natasha said.

The boy studied us for a while, and finally said, "I believe you."

"Who are you?" I asked.

He paused for a moment as if wondering whether to tell us or not.

"Nico, Nico di Angelo." Nico finally said.

"How-" Tony started.

"Tell me your names first." Nico demanded.

It was only fair. He had already told us his, so I started.

"Bruce Banner." I told him.

"Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow."

"Clint Barton, Hawkeye."

"Thor Odinson, of Asgard."

Nico raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't say anything.

"Tony Stark. I'm assuming you've already heard of me, but I'm Iron Man."

"Nope. Never heard of you." Nico said.

Tony mimed having a very dramatic heart attack.

"Steve Rodgers, or Captain America."

"Heard you were from the forties. So am I." Nico said casually.

Steve looked shocked, and I was sure I looked exactly the same. I knew everyone was as confused as I was, but didn't question it.

"As I was saying," Tony said. "How did you know they were here and in trouble?"

"Well, I was already here bringing them some... supplies. As to how I knew they were in trouble, I can sense Percy is near death." Nico replied.

I was internally panicking. Percy was about to die! How could Nico sense he was near death, though?

"How can you sense that?" Clint asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Because of my father." He said.

"Who's your father?" I asked.

"Hades, God of the Underworld, Lord of the Dead." He said nonchalantly.

Thor looked uncomfortable, and frowned when he heard Hades. I felt a bit uncomfortble too. This kid's father ruled over the dead.

Do you know a way to heal them?" Steve asked, gesturing to Percy and Annabeth.

Nico scowled, then cursed in another language.

"They've been cursed. Annabeth may be healed with ambrosia. As for Percy," He paused looking solemn. "He needs more than godly power for him to be healed."

That was not pleasant news. Nico fed them each a golden square that kind of looked like a brownie. Annabeth sat up immediately, her eyes no longer white. She looked at Percy.

"Oh gods, Percy. Not again." She whimpered.

Percy woke up and was able to speak a little. Nico cursed in the same language again.

"Gods Nico, you can almost cuss better than Arion." Percy said hoarsely.


	8. Chapter 8: The Cure and the Massacre

Chapter 8

 _Nico_

I spent every single moment either trying to find a cure for Percy, or desperately praying to Apollo. After two hours of doing basically nothing, but pretending I was doing something, I was fed up. I let out a string of colorful words that should not be put in writing. Maybe I really did cuss almost as well as Arion. Nah. Percy said he was so bad, he washed the horse's mouth with soap thanks to his powers. Percy had spent the next three hours hiding from Arion.

Annabeth came up to me and suggested that we tell the Avengers what we're facing. I took a deep breath and everyone gathered around the kitchen table. I knew they were still depressed about not being able to do anything for Percy.

"So," I started, "We're about to have another war."

They didn't seem surprised, and were clearly unmotivated.

"And do you happen to know who, or what we're up against?" A guy, Clint I think, said.

"Unfortunately." Annabeth told him gravely.

"And that is..." The egoistical billionaire said, trailing off and gesturing for me to answer.

I actually knew about Tony Stark, but his ego needed a little deflating, and by a little, I mean a lot.

"Tartarus. Primordial of the Pit." I replied.

"Who the he-" Tony started to ask.

"Anything else you want to know, figure out yourself." I told him. "Right now we've got to focus on Percy."

"Right." Steve muttered.

"And-" I was cut off by an Iris Message.

"Annabeth!" Grover called out. "The nymphs saw a gorgon in Central Park. I thought since you're nearby you could take care of her. She's terrorizing mortals."

"On it, Grover." Annabeth said as she swiped her hand through the mist, looking strangely happy.

"What's that?" Tony asked excitedly.

"Iris Message. Not important right now." Annabeth said. "Now who wants to save Percy?"

"I'm such an idiot!" I exclaimed. "Gorgon's blood!"

In seeing the Avengers confused faces Annabeth quickly explained why we were so happy.

"Blood from the right side of a gorgon can heal any injury, while blood from the left causes a very painful death. Percy is unfortunately suffering from blood from the left side."

"So if we kill that gorgon we can get it's blood to heal Percy!" Natasha said, finally getting it.

"Yep. Let's go!" I said.

A few minutes later we all arrived in Central Park. We got some strange looks thanks to the Avengers. I really don't understand why they try so hard to look so ridiculous.

"Hi, Euryale!" I called out to the snake-haired lady.

"I'm not Euryale, I'm Stheno!" She cried.

"My mistake. Now would you do us all a favor and die so we can heal our friend?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, I was sent by Tartarus himself to kill you two." Stheno said, pointing at Annabeth and I.

"Would you like a Cheese-'N-Wiener?" The gorgon asked, holding out a silver platter with the snacks on them.

I had no clue why Stheno was wearing a Bargain Mart vest and nametag, and offered us free samples. Maybe a past cover of hers?

"No thanks, we'd rather kill you." Tony said.

"You dare reject my delicious snack foods? Die!" The gorgon cried as she advanced.

"Sponges are 50% off this week!" She added.

"Sorry, only Thanatos is authorized to give me death." I said.

I cut off her head with one swing, and she exploded into golden monster dust.

Two vials lay on the ground, one on the right and one on the left. I picked up both and handed the right one to Annabeth.

"Go heal Percy," I said. "I've got to go."

"What are you going to do with that?" She asked, gesturing to the vial in my hand.

I shrugged.

"You never know when you need to painfully kill someone." I said, laughing.

Annabeth sighed.

"Remind me never to cross you." She said.

I just smirked at her as I melted into the shadows. I had lied to Annabeth. I had a very specific purpose for this vial. _He_ was going to suffer. I would make sure of that. I chuckled darkly to myself. Yes, I would have my revenge. Because, after all this time, I had never let this grudge go.

 _Annabeth_

As Nico shadow traveled away, the team and I went back to the tower. There, we forced the gorgon's blood down Percy's throat. Percy fell into a peaceful sleep, and I had a feeling that when he woke up he would be cured.

"Okay, let's get our facts straight." I said. "Tartarus sent Euryale, meaning he wanted us to cure Percy. Why?"

"I was just thinking about that." Steve said.

"He wanted to distract us." Natasha said simply.

"Exactly, but _what_ exactly was he distracting us from?" I asked, I partly knew the answer but I wanted to see their thoughts on the matter.

"Something big and important that he needs us out of the way for." Steve replied, looking a little nervous.

"Okay, and we already know he needs to kill demigods to reawaken his wife. That's his goal." I told them.

"So Tartarus would go someplace where he can mass kill them." Bruce said quietly.

"He's going to one of the camps and turned lunch into a massacre." I said.

"We've got to help them." Steve said determinedly.

"Fine. I'll have to find out what camp he's at." I told them. "Can anyone make a rainbow?"

"Why do we need a rainbow?" Tony asked.

"To make an Iris Message." I replied. "Iris is a messenger of the gods. She's also the rainbow goddess. Sometimes she'll deliver a message for us demigods if we pay her."

A few moments later we had a rainbow in the bathroom.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." I said as I tossed a drachma into the mist.

"How does it disappear?" Bruce asked.

"She's accepted our offering." I said.

"What-" Tony started to ask.

"Be quiet, we're wasting time!" Natasha said.

"Show me Reyna, at Camp Jupiter."

Reyna appeared in front of the city lines, her face bloody and her eyes narrowed.

" _Miliens morituros!_ " She said.

"You'd rather die?" Natasha asked.

I looked at her.

"What? I speak Latin, kill me."

Reyna had just seemed to notice us.

"Annabeth! Camp Jupiter is under attack! That son of a gorgon is killing our legionaires!" Reyna said.

"Don't worry Reyna, I'll be there soon." I assured her, swiping my hand through the Iris Message.

"Let's go." Tony said.

We arrived at Camp Jupiter to find it in ruins, everything, except the city, was destroyed. They had protected New Rome, which was filled with veterans and children. I looked at the destruction around me, searching for survivors.

"Spread out, we'll cover more ground." I said.

We all went our separate directions and agreed to meet at the borderline in thirty minutes. I finally found them in the city, after noticing the pile of weapons dropped at the borderline.

"Reyna, it's Annabeth. Are you here?" I called out.

After no answer I decided to check the Senate House, because that's most likely where they would meet. I entered and noticed that there were considerably less campers than usual.

"Reyna, can we speak in private?" I asked.

She nodded and told Frank something. We went to the garden of Bacchus for privacy.

"Tartarus came from the earth and killed about fifty legonaires before we managed to retreat." Reyna said grimly.

"That's bad. Really, really bad." I said. "Every demigod he kills gets him closer to reawakening Gaea."

"What are we supposed to do, then? We are no match for him!" She exclaimed.

"There has to be a weakness. What were his words again? 'For every demigod soul I add to my armor a piece of Gaea's conciousness is summoned to me.' So he needs his breastplate. It's his symbol of power. If we destroy it-"

"Than all of the souls escape!" Reyna said, cutting me off.

"We'll have to figure out a way to destroy, then." Tony said.

I hadn't noticed he'd walked up to us.

"Who are you?" Reyna asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I'm Tony Stark, billionaire, Iron Man. You may have heard of me."

Reyna just shook her head.

"You're mortal." She stated.

"I brought him here. He wanted to help." I said.

"It took forever to get past that statue guy!" Tony exclaimed. "He wouldn't let me wear my suit in here!"

"Just grab the team and get out of here. We need to get back to Percy." I told him.

"Good luck, Annabeth!" Reyna called.


	9. Chapter 9: Interfectrix

**This new character is me and well... you'll see. Don't worry, she's not going to be one of those super over-powered characters who becomes the main character.**

Chapter 9

Steve

A few days after Percy's recovery, we were sitting in the living room watching some movie Tony insisted we watched. I think it was called The Hungry Sports. Thor was currently going to see Jane.

Suddenly, a girl walked out of the elevator. She looked about nineteen, with black hair and a pale complexion. Her eyes were brown, and it was a cold look. She smiled, but it looked strange, like she didn't quite understand the purpose of a smile.

"Hello, Percy." She said.

Percy looked a bit startled.

"Who are you?" He asked, his hand drifting to his pocket.

"Everyone has heard about the famous Perseus Jackson, little snack." She hissed.

Percy pulled out his sword and was about to attack as the girl's skin turned black, and her eyes turned a blood red. Her fingernails grew into talons, and silver wings grew out of her back.

"What the-" Tony started.

"Quiet, mortal!" She ordered.

She turned to Percy.

"Well, if it isn't the great hero himself." She mocked. "Where's your little sidekick? Annabeth, was it?"

Annabeth was currently sneaking behind her, trying to surprise her. Just as Annabeth was about to strike, the girl turned and snatched her up.

"Here she is now!" She cried.

I ran at her, trying to help, but an invisable forcefield pushed me back.

"Don't interfere, foolish mortals." She growled.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked, stalling for time.

"I am Interfectrix, the spirit of female killers, and women seeking power! They used to worship me like a goddess, and now I'm forgotten!" Interfectrix exclaimed.

"Why haven't we heard of you before?" Percy questioned.

"It took me millennia to climb out of Tartarus after Heracles defeated me!" She cried. "I escaped out of the Doors of Death, finally!"

"Why didn't you join Gaea, and why did Heracles defeat you?" Annabeth asked.

"I encouraged the Amazons to attack him. It was I who spread the rumor that he was trying to kidnap Hippolyta, not Hera. He killed me out of revenge, and it was Hera who sent me!" She exclaimed.

"Well, Hera's not my favorite goddess." Annabeth said. "She's a-" Annabeth said something in another language, and Percy's eyes widened. Thunder boomed up above.

"As for the war with Gaea, I did not assist her because I can foresee the outcomes of females enacting revenge. I saw she would fail." The monster said.

"And you joined Tartarus?" Percy inquired.

"Yes, I believe he has a better chance of succeeding." Interfectrix said simply.

"Alright, let's get to the part where we send you back to Tartarus." Percy said.

She cackled. "You really think it's going to be that simple?"

In answer, Percy swung his sword at her, but she blocked it with her talons. She then pulled out her own sword made of some metal that was black and radiated darkness.

"Tsk, tsk, little hero. I'm sure Chiron has taught you better than that."

Annabeth sliced at her from behind, but she simply flew up and hovered above them, flapping her big silvery wings every once in a while. I wished I could help them. I felt so useless being stuck on the sidelines, and I could tell everyone else was feeling the same.

Interfectrix raked her talons across Percy's chest, and he grunted in pain. He recovered just in time to dodge her next attack. Fortunately, she forgot about Annabeth. The demigod was able to come in from behind and slice off one of her wings. She screeched in pain.

"Not my beautiful wings! You, daughter of Athena, will pay!" She cried.

Interfectrix lauched herself at Annabeth so quickly she had no time to react. They rolled over and she sliced at Annabeth's chest. She was able to dodge the brunt of her attack, but the monster managed to badly cut her leg. Annabeth threw her off of her, and stabbed her with her own sword. Percy came back into the fight and slashed with his sword. She parried, but Annabeth snuck in a hit.

Interfectrix stabbed Percy in the gut, then threw Annabeth against the forcefield so she brutally hit it. She crumpled to the ground.

"My name doesn't mean killer for nothing, you know." Interfectrix gloated.

I began to think she was actually going to win, and desperately tried to get through the forcefield. Then, water started to pour from all directions and trapped her. She struggled, but couldn't get free. As Percy started to finish her off, Interfectrix grabbed Annabeth, who was coming back into the fight.

"If I go, she comes too!" She cackled.

Percy made to slice the monster's head off, but as his sword touched her, Interfectrix and Annabeth turned into golden dust. It fell to the ground, and made a certain pattern.

ONE WRONG MOVE

Despite the vagueness of the words themselves, the message was crystal clear.

"Annabeth!" Percy cried.

In his anger, the water he had summoned started to form a whirlpool, and huge waves crashed against each other. Percy didn't seem to notice or care. All he cared about was the fact that Annabeth was gone. He stormed off, presumably to go to his room. I didn't blame him.

"Give him some time alone." I said to Bruce who was about to follow him.

"God knows he'll need it." I muttered.

Percy

I'm still in a state of shock right now. I can't believe I let Annabeth get taken by a monster. They could be killing her as we speak, and I couldn't do a thing about it. I thought back to Interfectrix's message. If I did one thing to threaten them, they would kill her, or at least hurt her. I had to get her back, no matter what.

Annabeth was my anchor to the world. Without her, I felt like a rubberband slowly being pulled tight. It, like me, was just waiting to snap. I have to stay strong. Not just for Annabeth, but for the whole team. I can't distract them from the problem at hand. Soon though, they were bound to notice how I was acting. I had to make sure to act fine.

I'm slowly breaking. Annabeth knows that, Tartarus knows that, and I know that. I can already feel the hairline cracks inside of me start to spread. They're slowly getting bigger, and I have no doubt that if this goes on much longer I'll be running around screaming about bananas wearing a bathrobe.

As night falls, I'm too nervous and scared to sleep. I fear the nightmares, and Annabeth. What if I saw her being tortured? It would be too much to take, at least today. I just sat on my bed, staring at the stars out my window. I traced the constellation of Zoë Nightshade on my window. Zoë, one of the many people I had failed to save.

Looking at the stars reminded me of Bob... and Damasen. They sacrificed themselves so Annabeth and I could escape Tartarus. I was not about to let their sacrifice be in vain. I would keep Annabeth alive no matter what. I felt sick now, thinking about this, and decided to get a snack to keep myself busy.

I walked down to the kitchen, and I half-heartedly nibbled on a poptart.

"Thor's going to be upset when he sees you ate the last poptart." A voice said from the shadows said.

"I'm not in the mood right now, okay?" I told her.

"Just remember to keep your head." Natasha said.

That made me mad. Annabeth was gone, and she's telling me to _keep my head_? I grabbed her and pinned her against the wall.

"We have to find her!" I growled angrily.

"We will." Natasha said softly.

"Please." I said, my voice cracking.

 **Okay, plot twist! For all of you who didn't read the note at the top, Interfectrix is me. Yes, I imagine myself as a bloodthirsty monster. There's nothing wrong with that!**


	10. Chapter 10: Annabeth's Death

**Hi guys. Here's a haiku.**

 **I went to a camp**

 **I did not get to update**

 **I'm going again**

 **Yeah, so I'm going to summer camp and won't be able to update for a bit.**

 _ **I destroyed Percabeth! Haha, you'll have to read to find out.**_

* * *

Chapter 10

 _Natasha_

After that monster took Annabeth, Percy was acting... different. He only pushed the food around on his plate, and when we forced him to eat, it would just come back up. I could tell he wasn't getting any sleep at all. The only rest he got was a few days after she was taken, when he collapsed with exhaustion.

I decided to confront Percy while everyone besides he and I would be asleep. I quietly stalked into his room and pinned him against the wall.

"Look," I growled. "Starving yourself and collapsing from exhaustion is not going to help Annabeth."

"I-"

"You need to focus on saving her, not killing youself!" I said, making sure he didn't get a chance to speak.

"I know." Percy said sheepishly.

"I am not going to face an angry Annabeth when she sees you're dead, so you have to promise me you'll get some sleep and eat."

"But-"

"For Annabeth." I ordered him.

"I will, I promise." He said.

"Good." I said, letting him go.

"And Natasha,"

"Yes?" I replied.

"Thanks." He said.

"Your plate better be full at breakfast." I threatened as I walked out the door.

At breakfast, I was satisfied to see Percy finally eating, and the dark circles under his eyes a bit less pronounced. He was only eating a Pop Tart, but I guess you have to start somewhere. Besides, he's a teenager. I don't think "healthy food" is in his vocabulary.

We ate in only slightly awkward silence before I heard a slight popping noise, and someone appeared on the kitchen table. The body was covered in bloody cuts, and I saw Percy's eyes widen as he saw who it was. It was Annabeth.

"Save her!" Percy growled as he ran off to get something.

Looking at her unconscious form, I knew Annabeth wasn't going to make it. She was loosing too much blood from the gashes all over her body. I had no idea what Percy would do. He might try to kill himself. I couldn't let him do that.

Percy ran back into the room and poured something over the cuts. Some of them partially healed, but as we tried to save Annabeth, I felt for her pulse and felt... nothing.

"Annabeth! Please wake up!" Percy said desperately.

"P-Percy, she's gone." Bruce said shakily.

We should have told him we knew where they were keeping her. Now it's too late.

"You knew something, didn't you?" He accused.

"We knew where they were keeping her. We wanted to wait until you recovered." Clint admitted.

"You could have saved her!" He screamed. "Why didn't you save her!"

I could feel something inside him shatter. He glared at the coffee on the kitchen table so hard, I almost expected it to explode. Instead, it formed into hot coffee ropes and wrapped around us. It burned our skin and restrained us until Percy ran away, and the ropes lost their form and turned back into regular coffee. There were red burn marks all over us.

"We have to stop him from doing anything... rash." Steve said.

"Agreed." I said.

"We have no idea where he went!" Clint said.

"Then we track him down." I replied.

As everyone else went to try and figure out where Percy had gone, I was the only one left in the room when Annabeth's body shimmered and vanished in the blink of an eye.

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 **I love cliffhangers! I'm sorry this chapter is so short but don't worry I'll update before I go to camp. I'm so sorry it's short. It's half of what I usually post.**


	11. Chapter 11: Dark Side

Chapter 11

 _Interfectrix_

I approached Tartarus, ready to deliver the news. He thought he controlled me, and that I was loyal only to him. We'll see about that. I am wise enough to appear as I am his loyal servant, because if I didn't, he would devour my existence.

 _Was the plan executed?_ Tartarus asked.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson believes his girlfriend is dead." I told him.

 _Will he tear those mortals apart as you promised?_

"We have successfully brought out his dark side. There is nothing he _won't_ tear apart." I said.

 _I do not think he has enough darkness in him._

"He has more darkness in him than you think, we just need to unlock it." I assured him.

 _This had better work._ Tartarus threatened.

"Everyone has a dark side, Perseus just lets his control him." I cackled.

I flashed into the abandoned warehouse where we were keeping Annabeth Chase. I stalked up to the bars of the golden cage I had imprisoned her in. It was woven with magic, so only I and Perseus Jackson could open it.

Of course, Tartarus didn't know Perseus could release his girlfriend. I wanted him to be able to release Annabeth, so they could at least attempt to defeat Tartarus. If they did, I could finally enact my finally plan.

"Well, well, Miss Chase. What have you been up to?" I said, taunting her.

"It's none of your business." She spat. "Where's Percy?"

"Right down to business, are we?" I asked mockingly.

"Just tell me where he is." She growled.

"Now, now. No need to be nasty." I said.

"Tell me. Now." She demanded.

"I'll give you a hint. What's tall, angry, and running wild around New York?"

"What?" Annabeth said.

"Your _boyfriend_ has a dark side, I'm afraid." I said as I chuckled darkly.

"W-What did you do to him?" She stuttered.

I love it when my enemies show signs of weakness. It makes things so much easier.

"He thinks you're dead." I said simply.

The daughter of Athena seemed to finally understand my plan, and stared at me in either fear, or determination.

"I'll see you later." I said sarcastically, and flashed out.

I flashed to a different universe, one where Tartarus never enacted his revenge, and the Seven were still alive. There, I would pay Hazel Levesque a visit. She's a strong girl, underestimated. It's a pity Tartarus killed her in this universe.

 _Percy_

I only felt anger, well, anger and grief. I could have saved her. If I were faster, or stronger, or Hades, even wiser. I felt her cold blood on my hands, and pictured her lifeless face. It fueled my anger, and there was nothing more I wanted to do than avenge my Wise Girl. I would kill Interfectrix, tear her apart with my bare hands. I would make sure the person responsible for Annabeth's death would die- painfully.

So I ran. I ran as fast, and as far as I could. I had to get away from everything, and mostly everyone. When I ran into Steve Rodgers, let's just say I wasn't pleased to be found so easily. I struggled against his grip, but he was holding fast. I hadn't seen him since breakfast. Actually, I hadn't seen any of them since breakfast, and I was glad it was now night.

"I just want to talk to you." He said.

I finally conceded and stopped struggling. He set me down on the pavement and we sat in silence for a moment.

"It's not your fault, you know." Captain America said quietly.

His words only fueled my hate fire. I remembered how they _knew_ where she was, but they didn't tell me. Her death is their fault. We could have saved her, but because of them she was dead. I felt raw anger at the sight of one of _them_ , one of the people who had a part in her death.

I didn't mean to, but I felt a wave roaring in my ears, and suddenly Steve found himself sputtering on the ground. I tried to run away while he was still dazed but he got up quicker than I expected. My instincts reacted quicker than I could. Water formed into ropes and restrained Steve.

"Don't follow me." I growled out, harder than I meant to.

"Percy-"

I cut him off. "You aren't forgiven. Do me a favor and _leave me alone_!"

With that, I ran into the darkness leaving him restrained and alone. I knew that running away would mean I was running away from everything I had. I didn't care. All I cared about was avenging _her_. I would do anything to make things right. I would be strong for both Annabeth and I.

I would punish those Avengers. They could have saved her. Instead, they left her to die. I would make them pay for what they did to her, for what they did to me. The old Percy Jackson had _died_ when Annabeth did. Now I was someone new, and I wasn't sure exactly who I was yet. All I knew was that they would be sorry they didn't tell me where she was.

As I ran I realized I had nowhere to stay, and I sure as Hades wasn't going to sleep on the street. I went to my mom's apartment against my better judgement. Luckily, my mom wasn't there and I was able to actually sleep. For once I had no nightmares, but a dreamless sleep. That was a luxury for demigods like me.

When I woke up, I made sure I got out quick in case my mom came home. I didn't want her to see me like this, whatever- _whoever_ I was. Maybe in time I would be able to face my mother, but for now I was content to not see her. On my way out I grabbed a few pictures. They were of happier times, and now the memories were bittersweet. They made me sad looking at them, but nevertheless I stuffed them in a backpack.

Today it was time to start my new life, for better or worse. No matter what, though, I _will_ avenge her. Annabeth may be dead, but I know she would want me to live for her, which is the only reason I didn't go to my uncle. Besides, I had some revenge to serve out first.


	12. ADOPTION

**This story is up for adoption. PM me if you wish to adopt it.**


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